7 Blogging Ideas that Will Change the Way You Do Business Forever

The time has come. Your company is finally ready to blog. As we discussed last week, you’ve taken common consumer questions and turned each into a title for a blog post. This strategy will go a long ways, but today I want to dig a little deeper into the types of articles prospects and existing clients truly want to see. And my promise to you is that if you are willing to do the following, your company’s brand recognition will explode, Google will be impressed (SEO), and you just may become the educational voice of your industry.

Interested? Then please, keep reading…

Here are 7 Blogging Ideas that Will Change the Way You Do Business Forever:

1. Pricing Articles

Within the first 2 minutes of the initial phone call, what’s the main question almost every prospect wants to know? Yep, that’s right—Pricing. Everyone wants to know about pricing. You do it. I do it. We all do it.

Notwithstanding, how often do companies typically address pricing on their website? Based on the many seminars and conferences I’ve done and the surveys I’ve given in each, the number is usually around 2-3%.

In other words, the #1 question consumers have about our products is the #1 topic we tend to ignore.

I know, I know, you’re thinking your prices vary, correct? You think there is no way that you can possibly give actual pricing information, right?

Well if you’re thinking this, then join the crowd. Almost all businesses have different products, with different prices, that can vary drastically.

As an example of this, with my swimming pool company I sell a product that ranges in most cases from about 30-80k. This being said, on my pricing page (see it here if you’d like to see what I’m talking about), I list the ranges shoppers can expect. Not only does this page do a great job qualifying visitors to my site, but it also earns our company a huge amount of trust, especially considering most other business are too afraid to even address the subject in such a way the prospect can at least have a general idea as to what to expect.

2. Cost Articles

I know what you’re thinking—“Marcus, you just talked about this.” Yes, I did, but in the eyes of Google and their algorithm, I clearly did not. You see, when it comes to product pricing, there is a large group of people that will type/search (let’s assume your company sells widgets) ‘Widget Pricing’ or ‘Prices on Widgets’ and then there is another group that will type in ‘Widget Costs’ or ‘Costs of Widgets’. Are you seeing what I’m saying here? When it comes to awesome content that gets major love from the search engines you need to write articles that address exact phrases and words, not just general ideas. This is very, very critical to understand if you want to be successful.

Just to shed further light on this, the most successful page on my pool website is far and away the fiberglass pool cost page, which, in the last year alone has been read over 60,000 times. (And no, I’m not kidding).

So to reiterate what I’m saying, 2 of the most popular pages on my entire website both talk about the exact same subject, but address two very, very different words—cost and price.

3. Vs. Articles

Whenever I meet with a new client, one of the first things I talk with them about is their competing products and manufacturers. For example, let’s assume that your company sells John Deere lawn mowers. This being said, you are competing with handfuls of other lawn mower manufacturers, as prospects attempt to identify the best unit that gives them the biggest bang for their buck.

Now imagine someone came into your store and got a quote on John Deer X model. Then, after going down the street or looking on the internet, they get a quote on a Craftsmen Y model. Being confused as to which is better, they go to Google for advice and type in John Deer X vs. Craftsmen Y: Which is Better?  If you’ve written an article on such a topic, and it’s good, there is a very good chance you could show up on the first page of Google for said results, which, as you might imagine, does wonders in terms of site visitors as well as consumer trust.

4. Problems Articles

Whenever a person is looking to spend money on a product, one of the first things they do is seek out the negatives or drawbacks to said product. For example, in the inground swimming pool industry, there are 3 types of pools—concrete, vinyl, and fiberglass. And considering that many builders like to blab all day long about the ‘problems’ of the other products (types of pools), consumers are constantly typing in Google ‘problem’ oriented phrases.

To give a powerful example of this,  in my pool company (where we only sell fiberglass pools) we once wrote a landmark article called “Top 5 Fiberglass Pool Problems and Solutions”. Because no one in our industry had ever had the guts/marketing sense to write about such a topic, it immediately shot to the first page of Goolge for the phrase “Fiberglass Pool Problems” (Google it to see exactly what I’m talking about). And how has it done since?  As of today, the article has been read over 46,000 times and also has over 400 inbound links.

Simply put, that blog post will be making our company leads and sales for years and years to come, all because we had the guts, and smarts, to talk about a subject most companies are not.

Seriously folks, this is an amazing content strategy and you need to do it today.

5. Review Articles

I love review articles. So do consumers. But for whatever reasons, companies are afraid to write them. My question is this—We market and sell our products and services all day long, during which time we are comparing said products/services with other companies, so why are we so afraid to take these same thoughts and put them to pen?? Frankly, it makes no sense to me at all.

If you really want to see further what I’m talking about here, just type in Google any phrase that has to do with ‘fiberglass pool reviews’ and you’ll see one of my articles show up on the first page—every time.

6. Awards

If you’re looking for a powerful way to grab the attention of customers and competitors in your industry, start writing award articles. That’s right, award articles. Just as you see ‘consumer digest awards’ in places like the vehicle industry, you can apply this same need to your field.

I’ve done this many times with my pool company and to see exactly what I’m talking about, check out  these two articles:

Large Fiberglass Pool Design Awards For 2010

Small Inground Fiberglass Pool Design Awards For 2010

You may be asking yourself the question, “What gives me the right to give out awards to vendors/manufacturers in my industry?” The answer is simple—You have an opinion. And you’re an expert in your field. So share it.

(Note** Google the phrase ‘small inground pools’ or ‘small fiberglass pools’ or small pool designs’ and you’ll see just how effective this type of article can be.)

7. Gimmicks

Every industry has its gimmicks. I see it every day in the internet marketing world, the swimming pool industry, and the many other fields in which I’ve assisted clients. It doesn’t matter the niche, they’re all the same, and there are going to be gimmicks, frauds, hacks, whatever.

But the main question is this: What are you going to do about it? Are you going to just let it be or are you going to nail your 95 Thesis to the church door and call them out? Yes, the latter will garner positive and negative attention from those in your field, but in terms of marketing and branding, there’s no question the results will be well worth it.

Here’s an example of a ‘gimmick’ article I’ve written before:

The Most Egregious Fiberglass Pool Warranty I’ve Ever Seen

Your Turn to Shine

So there you have it friends, 7 ideas that will surely get your blog started off to an explosive start and help your brand grow quantum leaps within your industry.

To understand these principles of blogging much further, be sure to download my FREE, 230 page eBook, Inbound and Content Marketing Made Easy.

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Featured Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/farleyj/2768941171/

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